Chapter 72: Stay Away from Xiao Yi, Cherish Your Life!

Over the next two days, Xiao Yi continued hunting snow rabbits; in his rabbit pen, after accounting for those already eaten, over forty remained.

Meanwhile, the pen still held five grouse—originally eight, but Xiao Yi had accidentally killed three with too much force while throwing stones, leaving him no choice but to send the dead ones to the pot.

Yes, all these grouse had been knocked down by Xiao Yi’s stones; though his initial hunting skill was low, he considered his stone-throwing technique unmatched, and to improve accuracy, he had systematically enhanced it.

So when the show first asked him to choose ten tools, he deliberately skipped the bow and arrow—he had this stone-throwing skill.

Combined with his strength, this skill gave him ample power against small prey like snow rabbits, Arctic ground squirrels, and grouse.

As for large prey like moose, Xiao Yi never considered it—he didn’t believe he’d be lucky enough to encounter such a windfall.

The facts proved him right: he’d been in the wilderness nearly a month and hadn’t seen a single moose hair.

Moreover, before arriving, Xiao Yi had clear goals and plans for his food sources.

Specifically, the sturgeon and pike in Lake Ryan—he was equally confident in his lure-fishing technique.

But lately, wolves had brought him meat, and snow rabbits had practically surrendered themselves, forcing Xiao Yi to temporarily abandon his original primary goal.

Of course, after today, he could once again turn his attention toward Lake Ryan.

Mainly because snow rabbits within a ten-mile radius had nearly all been cleared out by Xiao Yi.

Today should be his final rabbit hunt—just to check for any stragglers—after which he could quietly become a fisherman.

Of course, after a month, Xiao Yi might choose to scour the area again; he believed that by then, “new immigrants” would have appeared across the surrounding wasteland.

During these two days, Xiao Yi had another piece of good news: the large cat that appeared that night hadn’t shown up again.

Whether it feared him or feared him—either way, the cat dared not reappear.

As for Dog Egg and Black Egg, the two bears, they were diligent and responsible, each night still growling twice toward the deep forest.

Yet neither Xiao Yi nor the two bears knew that the cat hadn’t vanished—it was watching from even farther away.

This time, the cat wasn’t alone—it was two large ones.

Watching the growing number of snow rabbits in the pen, the hidden cats grew increasingly unable to control their cravings.

But the black bear, never leaving his side, left the two cats helpless—they could only wait for a better opportunity.

……

……

“Hmm! These three guys… feel familiar, right, Black Egg?”

“Grr…”

“Don’t make noise—watch the show!”

Just as Black Egg was about to respond, Xiao Yi slapped his head to silence him.

Instantly, the growl stuck in Black Egg’s throat.

Today’s hunt still had Dog Egg guarding the camp while Xiao Yi took Black Egg out to search for snow rabbits and grouse.

Perhaps this area had no more snow rabbits—or perhaps they sensed danger and fled.

After breakfast, Xiao Yi and Black Egg spent the entire morning and caught only four snow rabbits and one grouse—their smallest haul in two days.

As the man and bear wandered through the wilderness, several figures caught Xiao Yi’s eye.

Seven Arctic ground squirrels were fighting each other—a rare sight of a group brawl.

Most importantly, Xiao Yi spotted a familiar figure: the one with patches of yellow fur on its tail—clearly the leader of the three ground squirrels he and Black Egg had encountered two days ago.

After all, animals that brought him gifts were good animals; he remembered them well.

The fight was fierce, so intense that neither side noticed the man and bear nearby.

Normally, this would be impossible: these creatures had wide peripheral vision due to the light rings around their large eyes, making threats easy to spot—especially since Xiao Yi and Black Egg were so enormous.

But Huang Mao was a tough one—he was holding his own against two opponents.

Seeing this, Xiao Yi smirked slightly. No wonder it had dared to squeak at him and Black Egg back then—it really had some grit.

His two underlings were also stronger than the opposing pair of Arctic ground squirrels.

So even though it was three versus four, Huang Mao’s side held the advantage.

Soon, the group of four ground squirrels began to crack; after two mournful squeaks, they fled.

Arctic ground squirrels have strong territorial instincts and, like many animals, settle disputes through combat.

Clearly, Huang Mao’s group had won; after victory, the three squirrels excitedly squeaked, then moved to inspect their spoils.

“Squeak! Squeak!”

“()”

But before Huang Mao could enter the burrow, his underlings suddenly panicked—they’d spotted Xiao Yi and Black Egg nearby.

Without hesitation, they scrambled up the nearest tree.

Huang Mao and the other squirrel then realized the danger, fur bristling, and quickly climbed after them.

Huang Mao never imagined he’d be so unlucky—running into this human-and-black-bear combo again.

Xiao Yi smiled kindly at the three squirrels in the tree, then gestured to Black Egg: “Black Egg, get to work—dig!”

This time, Xiao Yi didn’t need to search for the burrow—Huang Mao had led him right to it.

“Roar!”

Hearing his human master’s order, Black Egg surged with energy, responded with a growl, and charged forward.

The three squirrels in the tree squeaked frantically, but could do nothing.

Not even the live-stream viewers could bear to watch—some guests in the main studio were visibly disturbed.

Straight-talking Bai Lin blurted out in the main studio: “How can Xiao Shen do this? This is so unethical.”

Even Ren Qingyu, usually silent, couldn’t help saying: “You can’t just pluck fur from one group of animals—it’ll make them bald.”

Bei Ye could only shake his head helplessly—he didn’t know how to judge Xiao Yi’s behavior.

May God bless those three Arctic ground squirrels—stay away from Xiao Yi, cherish your life.

Of course, Bei Ye added kindly: “Maybe Xiao Yi needs this for survival.”

But even he didn’t believe his own words.

The food in Xiao Yi’s rabbit pen—if he didn’t have to feed two bears and rationed carefully—could last him until the end of the show.

Xiao Yi was now unquestionably the second richest in the wilderness; the richest, of course, was Wu En, with hundreds of pounds of moose meat.