Chapter 100: Harvesting a Bear Cub

Licentiate Yuan no longer persisted in catching fish, dripping wet he clambered out of the pond and helped Chen Wuji up, "Wuji, I'll forget it. I'm catching fish alone here; if you guys run into a bigger wild beast, what'll we do?"

"Don't say such depressing words; if we run into it today, all three of us will be done for here—no one will get away." Chen Wuji said.

Licentiate Yuan gave a hehe laugh and quickly spat twice, "No, no, definitely not. Once Wuji's injury heals, we'll run into it; right now we definitely won't run into it."

"You two kids just stay alert, let's go." Chen Wuji waved his hand and said.

Whether mountain folk or villagers, they all strongly avoid speaking those words aloud.

However, this area Chen Wuji has been running around in is fairly familiar to him; there are hardly any truly large beasts, and the biggest he's encountered so far is just a wild boar.

But once you get to that platform on the mountaintop, it's different—there aren't just encounters, it's practically a den of fierce beasts.

If they unfortunately happen to run into it today, that really means their luck is too good.

The three of them slowly went around the foothills and began to climb upward.

The wound on his body gave Chen Wuji considerable trouble, forcing him to stop and rest after every short stretch.

On level ground, it actually wasn't that obvious.

But when climbing upward, with his whole body exerting itself, the injury became especially clear.

After considerable effort, Chen Wuji and the three finally found the first trap.

A glance around made Chen Wuji's blood pressure spike instantly.

There was game, but only a pile of fur and bones remained.

And looking at the fur, it was still a badger.

At least two taels of silver, just gone like that!

The trap was utterly ruined.

The sticks and ropes had all vanished, leaving only the stone slab still there.

Chen Wuji tidied up the surroundings, then had Yuan Jinshi and Licentiate Yuan gather materials and reset the trap.

Taking a look at this trap, Chen Wuji basically had no hope left for the others.

After so many days, even if there were game, it would probably just leave him a few bones and fur to stir his heart a little.

As expected, the next several spots were all exactly like this, without exception.

Chen Wuji felt so distressed his ribs even ached faintly.

At least seven or eight taels of silver, just gone like that!

"Wuji, there's a fire pit here—looks like someone lived here." Yuan Jinshi shouted from a distance.

Chen Wuji heard the voice and walked over.

Beneath a jutting boulder, there remained a fire pit and many scattered, clean bones that had been gnawed; the footprints on the ground were messy, indicating quite a few people.

"Damn it, could it be some bastard eyeing my trap, sitting here waiting for prey?" Chen Wuji cursed.

However, those footprints on the ground must be several days old—very faint, with no fresh prints.

That, however, seems rather unreasonable.

"Wuji, there's still a piece of hide here!" Licentiate Yuan suddenly pulled a boar hide from the bushes.

Chen Wuji stared at the hide for a moment, his doubts growing stronger.

Just who are these people?

Ordinary folks have two completely different ways of dealing with boar hides.

Most people scald the boar's hair or burn it all off, and the hide is basically eaten—no one wants to peel it off.

But another group does the opposite.

They think eating the boar hide is the real waste.

Turning it into shoes, raincoats, etc., and not eating it is more economical.

The former group seems to value food in the fields more, never wasting any bit that can be eaten.

The latter group mostly have experience living in the mountains.

But these people's actions leave Chen Wuji somewhat puzzled.

They ate a whole boar on the mountain, yet went to the trouble of skinning its hide.

They skinned it, but then didn't even take the hide away.

…Perhaps skinning the hide is just their habit.

In other words, they normally collect hides.

But this time, perhaps they were in a hurry or couldn't carry it, so they left the hide here.

They certainly aren't hunters, and probably weren't eyeing his traps.

Perhaps they were just passersby, or refugees.

Figuring this out, Chen Wuji quietly let out a breath of relief.

He feared that all his hard work would end up making someone else's wedding dress.

"Put it away." Chen Wuji said.

"Oh." Licentiate Yuan rolled up the boar hide, tied it with rope, and slung it onto his back.

The group was about to leave when a rustling sound came from the nearby thicket.

"Wuji, it looks like there's game." Yuan Jinshi said excitedly, his eyes on Chen Wuji's knife.

"Take it, be careful—this knife is very sharp."

Chen Wuji saw through his little thought at once, took off the knife and handed it over.

Yuan Jinshi gave a hehe laugh, reached out and took the knife, "Wuji, I'll go have a look."

"Be careful—first scout from afar; if anything's wrong, run at once." Chen Wuji reminded.

"Got it, Wuji!"

The movement in the thicket didn't seem big; it didn't look like any large animal.

But if it were a python or something, it would still be hard to deal with.

Yuan Jinshi held the knife in his right hand and crept forward cautiously.

Licentiate Yuan hurriedly helped Chen Wuji to stand a bit farther away, ready to run at any moment.

Not long after, Yuan Jinshi came running over excitedly.

"Brother Chen Wuji, quick look, a dog and a wild boar! How strange—I dashed into that thicket and saw these two little things fighting there, biting out fur all over the ground."

Chen Wuji's expression tightened instantly when he saw the small thing in his hand.

"Quickly throw away that little thing in your left hand, we need to leave now!" Chen Wuji said urgently.

"You didn't recognize either of these two prey; your eyesight is decent. The one in your left hand is a wolf, and the one in your right hand isn't a wild boar either—it's a bear."

"Ah?" Yuan Jinshi jumped in surprise, "So that's what wolves and bear cubs look like."

"Quickly throw it away; wolves bear grudges—if you take its cub, it will bring trouble to our whole village." Chen Wuji said solemnly, "Bear cubs can be taken, but where there are cubs there are usually adult bears; maybe the mother bear is nearby, so let's leave quickly."

It's quite surprising to see a scene like those in children's comics appear in this place.

But this surprise comes with great danger; Chen Wuji dared not be the slightest bit careless.

Bears are not easy to deal with.

The general impression people have of it is that it's fat and lazy.

But that's merely its deceptive exterior.

It runs as fast as a wild boar, and its attack power is unmatched.

It belongs to the top tier of nature.

A single swipe from an adult brown bear can exert a force of about a ton.

What does that mean?

If an ordinary person were hit by it, they'd either die on the spot or end up disabled.

Yuan Jinshi hastily threw away the wolf cub in his left hand, then rushed over to hoist Chen Wuji onto his back and ran.

"Put me down; with your frail frame, how far could you run?" Chen Wuji said.

After finally eating a few full meals, the two brothers still had no meat on them—thin enough to be skeletal specimens—only their complexion had improved considerably compared to before.

"Brother Chen Wuji, don't look down on me for being thin—I still have decent stamina, I don't feel tired at all!" Yuan Jinshi said, panting, striding swiftly through the dense forest.

Licentiate Yuan took the knife and, following behind, kept watch on the surroundings vigilantly.