Chapter 97: A Great Harvest

Half an hour later at the dismemberment site, the Moose meat was indeed surrounded by a pack of Wolves, damn it!

"Awoo," the alpha Wolf finished eating before calling its underlings to start the meal.

As soon as Zhang Ping'an saw the Wolf King, which was at least two meters long and at least one meter tall, he thought, "Not bad, very majestic, suitable for keeping in the space."

Zhang Ping'an slowly approached, and the Wolf King also discovered this uninvited guest, Zhang Ping'an, at the first moment.

"Awoo," the pack of Wolves quickly gathered, baring their fangs and snarling at Zhang Ping'an.

"Good beast, what sharp senses."

Zhang Ping'an approached quickly, and the Wolves lunged madly one by one, only to disappear just as they were about to reach Zhang Ping'an.

"Not bad, nine in total including the Wolf King."

Zhang Ping'an also collected the messy Moose meat into the space; after thinking about it, fearing he would disrupt the local ecological balance, he kicked five of them back out to release them.

The Wolf King, having entered the space, was stunned for a moment; upon realizing what happened, it bared its fangs and snarled at Zhang Ping'an again, but in the end, it unwillingly led its remaining underlings to burrow into the Back Mountain of the Cottage.

Zhang Ping'an, having just exited the space, felt his hair stand on end and instinctively dodged to the right; he took a closer look and thought, "Holy crap, there really is a tiger? Damn, I hit the jackpot, encountering a tiger the first time I go into the mountains."

Zhang Ping'an remembered that there were no tigers in Beijiang in later generations; could it be that they went extinct later?

"Awoo-roar," it lunged again after the first strike failed; damn, I've really spoiled you, Zhang Ping'an dove straight back into the space...

Zhang Ping'an wasn't stupid enough to think he could tear a tiger or leopard apart with his bare hands; he might be able to fight to a draw, but he would definitely get hurt, and it would be stupid not to use the space.

Zhang Ping'an intended to follow the tiger to see if he could find its lair; a single tiger couldn't reproduce, so it wasn't worth putting into the space.

Zhang Ping'an going in and out of the space made the tiger numb; it let out an angry roar, stopped paying attention to Zhang Ping'an, and turned to run toward the dense forest.

Zhang Ping'an tore off a strip of cloth to leave a message, then followed it for over an hour; the tiger also hunted a Moose, and only after it was full did it drag a leg to stop at a cave.

Zhang Ping'an didn't stand on ceremony and packed up everything the tiger had left over before following it; the fact that the tiger was full and still packing food meant there were likely cubs and the mother tiger was injured.

Over at the wooden house, Watuo and the other two were getting anxious; the venison had been marinated with salt and other seasonings, but only a small portion had been smoked.

"You guys keep smoking the meat here, I'll go see what's going on."

"Uncle Watuo, my cousin, he..." They had just heard the wolf howls and tiger roars too.

"It's fine, Ping'an's skills are no less than mine, he'll definitely be fine, I'll be back soon."

In truth, Watuo had no confidence either; even he would be in trouble facing a pack of wolves and a tiger, but for now, he could only comfort them.

Watuo brought his gun, did some simple preparation, and took the dog to track back to the Moose site; seeing blood all over the ground, Watuo felt a bit of a headache, but fortunately, he didn't find any human arms or legs.

Watuo followed the trail and found the strip of cloth Zhang Ping'an had left behind; he let out a long sigh of relief while also admiring Zhang Ping'an's boldness, then returned to the wooden house.

"Uncle Watuo, my cousin..."

"It's fine, look." Watuo handed the cloth strip to Dong Jianguo.

"Phew~ it's good that he's fine."

"Alright, let's put in some effort and try to get all the meat processed before dark, we'll head back tomorrow."

"Okay."

Zhang Ping'an's appearance made the tiger bristle; that crouching attack posture confirmed it was a white-eyed tiger with a forehead marking.

Afterward, Zhang Ping'an went in and out of the space to dodge the tiger again, and finally, when the tiger was about to ignore him, Zhang Ping'an took it into the space.

The injured mother tiger in the cave, who was breathing more than she was inhaling, and the three tiger cubs were also taken in; it could be considered a family reunion.

Zhang Ping'an placed the mother tiger by the pond, poured a basin of pond water for her, and fed her a piece of mountain ginseng; only then did he start applying herbal medicine to her injured leg, wrapped it with cloth, and left the Moose meat the tiger had previously left over; whether she could survive depended on herself.

The male tiger saw this and seemed to understand that Zhang Ping'an was saving his wife, so he didn't lunge; Zhang Ping'an soaked a basin of milk for the three tiger cubs and petted them a few times—the feeling of petting a big cat was really great.

"After you're better, go stay in the Back Mountain obediently, you can eat whatever is in the Back Mountain." Zhang Ping'an didn't care if they understood or not and vanished from the space.

It was nearly five o'clock when Zhang Ping'an rushed back to the wooden house, holding two cleaned wild rabbits.

"Sorry, Uncle Watuo, I saw a tiger and got excited."

"No matter, as long as you're fine, what about the tiger?"

"It's a male tiger, and there's an injured female tiger; there should be cubs inside, so I didn't make a move."

Watuo nodded; if Zhang Ping'an had hunted the male tiger, the injured female tiger definitely wouldn't have been able to feed the cubs, and the whole family would likely have perished.

At noon, the group had already eaten venison, and Dong Jianguo had eaten so much he had a nosebleed; they had originally planned to eat dry rations for dinner, but now with the rabbit meat, they didn't have to.

Zhang Ping'an cut a piece of venison, placed it on the rack to roast, and after sprinkling on seasonings, it smelled amazing.

"Jianguo, you can't eat any more."

Zhang Ping'an looked at his greedy expression; although he didn't know Dong Jianguo had eaten at noon, he could tell roughly from his flushed face.

"Cough, cough, I won't eat, the rabbit meat is just fine."

"Hahaha," Watuo was also amused by Dong Jianguo's appearance.

Zhang Ping'an stuffed his face with meat, and after eating, his whole body felt hot; it wasn't until he practiced two sets of boxing that it eased up quite a bit.

"Phew~ it really is a potent tonic."

"Ping'an, the venison has all been smoked, let's head down the mountain tomorrow."

"Okay."

The night passed without incident.

The over 1,400 catties of meat were reduced to just over 1,000 catties after smoking; divided among the four, Watuo and Zhang Ping'an each got 300 catties, and the other two got a little over 200 catties each.

At noon, the four rested at the first small wooden house to replenish their energy, and it was past seven in the evening when they reached the foot of the mountain.

"Phew~ I'm exhausted." Dong Jianguo's legs were shaking.

"Hahaha, let's see if you come next time." Wasta's situation wasn't much better.

"You guys wait here, I'll go see if I can borrow a place to stay."

When Watuo hunted before, he always came down the mountain in the mid-afternoon, rested at the first wooden house for one night, and then went home the next day; this time, because they hunted too much, it delayed them too long.

Ten minutes later, Watuo returned.

"Let's go, five catties of meat rented us a room, we'll rest for the night and head back tomorrow morning."

"Good."

The owner of the house was a Uyghur, with a family of seven; they rented out a side room, which was also an earthen house, and it was quite spacious, enough for the four of them to live in comfortably.

The host also prepared a simple dinner, and Zhang Ping'an was not picky; it was already very kind of them to provide a hot meal, so after eating, everyone went to sleep.

At two in the morning, Watuo woke everyone up; they needed to reach home before the temperature rose during the day to put the meat back into the cellar.

The temperature in the mountains was low, which was fine, but outside, the temperature at noon could reach over thirty degrees, and even if the meat had been smoked, it could not be exposed to high temperatures.

"Giddyap, giddyap, giddyap!"

In the dark of night, the four people and two dogs shivered slightly in the summer breeze, and Zhang Ping'an had not expected that the temperature in the early morning near the mountains would actually be less than ten degrees.

With the horse-drawn carriage traveling at full speed, they finally arrived home just as the sky was slightly brightening; after setting aside various bits and pieces, Zhang Ping'an obtained over six hundred and twenty catties of meat.

Watuo was a rigorous person who also followed the rules; because he had led the way and also provided the horse-drawn carriage, Zhang Ping'an had to pay a price, and being able to keep six hundred catties of meat was already considered a lot.