Chapter 32: Lots of Meat

Baifeng and his group spent the whole way searching for wild cattle that had been trampled to death or injured, though the numbers were small; most were not yet dead, having been knocked down by their panicked, crazed kin, then trampled until their bones broke, leaving them even mangled and bloody.

Upon encountering them, Baifeng would use his Knife to sever the blood vessels in their necks to drain the blood; firstly, this could cause rapid death, and secondly, the meat would taste better once bled, without such a strong gamey odor.

Under normal hunting circumstances, Baifeng certainly would not dare to bleed prey out in the open Wasteland, as this would attract other powerful beasts; never mind whether the prey could be kept, he feared he might become an extra meal himself.

Protected by the great fire, Baifeng had no such worries; no matter how fierce a beast was, upon sensing the fire sweeping toward it, its first thought would surely be to run, rather than pass through a wall of fire to find food. Even if the fire went out, the scent of smoke would mask the scent of blood.

They had now found four, each of them massive in size, with yellow-white fur and straight horns; Baifeng could not connect them to any kind of cattle from later ages, and they looked more like the takins in the Qinling Mountains.

If they stood up, their backs were almost as high as Baifeng; one such animal was enough to feed the whole tribe for a day, and the real encirclement had only just begun.

The flames, fanned by the wind and burning fiercely along the way, drove the herd into a wild stampede; the tribesmen waiting in ambush below watched the smoke blowing from afar and the dust kicked up by the herd, feeling increasingly nervous.

They were now on the stone cliff, unafraid of being burned by the fire, and the spears thrown from a high vantage point were even more lethal, yet the fire drawing ever closer still made them feel the scorching heat and a sense of suffocation.

When the crowded herd reached this narrow pass, Xiong gave the order, and everyone threw a Spear at the same time; although most of the spears missed, as long as one was struck, combined with the crowding and trampling of their companions, not a single one could escape.

The first round of throwing frightened the herd; they sensed danger and were unwilling to continue forward, but the cattle behind, unaware of the situation and driven by the great fire, did not care about that and squeezed forward frantically.

The cattle in front could only be jostled along and forced to keep running forward; once the herd was densely packed again, Xiong threw the second round of spears, hitting even more cattle than the previous time.

After a brief stagnation just like the last time, the herd continued to run forward.

By the time the final round of throwing ended, a portion of the herd had not yet left the narrow pass, and Xiong and the others could only sigh at the sight of the cattle.

In the end, the fire did not burn to where Xiong was, but instead, driven by the wind, swept toward the other side; there was no telling how many places would suffer.

When Xiong and the others went down to clean up the harvest, Baifeng led his men and slowly swept over as well; once the two teams converged, they were shocked by the mountain of cattle piled up at the narrow pass.

Baifeng had originally envisioned that catching twenty would be fantastic, but now, just counting what they had picked up along the way, there were seven, and piled up here were no fewer than fifty.

A single such cow weighed at least over a thousand catties; through daily observation, Baifeng discovered that the men of this time had no problem carrying two to three hundred catties, feeling no great pressure, and possessed better physical fitness and greater strength than people of later ages.

Yet for such a cow, even if one discarded the parts with little meat like the head and hooves, the net meat would still be around eight hundred catties, requiring four people to carry one back.

With so many cattle, they had to be processed here first; it was impossible to return before dark, so Baifeng decided to camp in this valley for the night.

First, they went to each captured cow one by one to bleed them, deliver a finishing blow, remove the embedded spears, and take out the internal organs before piling them to one side.

By the time they were halfway through, the ground under Baifeng's feet was already a mire of blood; the stench, the mosquitoes and flies buzzing everywhere, and the blood flowing like a small stream made Baifeng feel extremely uncomfortable, his stomach churning, whereas the tribesmen were in high spirits, laughing and talking with one another.

Only then did Baifeng feel how out of place he was in this Wasteland; although his body was here and he was the Tribal Chief of several hundred people, his soul remained thousands or even tens of thousands of years in the future.

Baifeng quietly moved away from the slaughter site and hid behind a rock to clear his stomach contents, which made him feel a bit better; this encirclement was something he had nodded to, the plan he had provided, and the first fire he had lit, yet now he felt miserable. Baifeng mocked himself—this must be what being pretentious was.

Calming his mood and adjusting his state, Baifeng returned to the slaughter site, cheering the tribesmen on with a smile, or loudly scolding those who were slacking off, directing the tribesmen's actions.

By the time the sun leaned west and the mosquitoes became increasingly annoying, all the cattle, including those picked up along the way, had been processed; piled together in a jumble, they looked quite staggering in this valley.

There were sixty-four cattle in total, seventeen of which were calves and half-grown cattle, but their size was also quite large, much bigger than an adult deer.

There was not much difference in size between the bulls and cows, only that the bulls had longer horns and were fatter; however, Baifeng reckoned that without castration, the taste surely wouldn't be much better, and the cow meat should taste better.

After collecting the spears again and sticking them diagonally around the temporary campsite, Baifeng's sense of security finally returned; with such a ring of things protecting them, whether someone wanted to snatch the Beef or attack Baifeng and his group, it would not be an easy task.

They worked together to fell three trees on the mountain, and once lit, they could burn until dawn, driving away wild beasts and, to a certain extent, driving away the annoying mosquitoes and flies.

Two hundred people, eating to their hearts' content, only finished one calf; Baifeng took a cow heart and cut off a bit of brisket, skewered it, and roasted it over the fire. When it sizzled with oil, he took a bite while it was hot—it was very tender, but the taste was very average; without seasonings, Baifeng could not enjoy the pure taste of beef.

Baifeng had originally said that eating the heart should be the work of a king, after all, when lions caught prey, it was the lion king who ate the heart; as it turned out, no one cared about the internal organs at all. With meat that tasted better and filled their bellies, who would care about the organs? Baifeng guessed he might have been misled by novels of later ages again; they only cared about who took the first bite, and no one cared what part you were eating.

The tribesmen took turns keeping watch; even with fire, they could not be careless. Amidst the crackling of the fire, the howling of wolves coming from an unknown distance, and the snoring of the tribesmen rising and falling, Baifeng spent the night.

Upon waking, everyone dared not delay in the slightest and began skinning the cattle and butchering the Beef, which would make it more convenient to transport.

Baifeng did not care about the internal organs, but except for him, no one could bear to discard them; after casually squeezing out the contents of the stomachs and intestines, they piled them together, preparing to transport them back together.

Baifeng had originally wanted to discard the cow heads and hooves, but under the strong insistence of the tribesmen, in the end, only the hooves, which truly had no meat, were discarded; as for the cow heads, in their words, they would carry them back even if it killed them.

Finally, by carrying them on their backs or shoulders, almost everyone was not empty-handed; carrying the butchered Beef, they prepared to embark on the return journey toward late afternoon.

Counting Baifeng, there were twenty-three people guarding with Weapons, clearing the path, bringing up the rear, and observing the surroundings to ensure that they could resist and give the other tribesmen time to react if there was a surprise attack by wild beasts.

Except for the spears with Iron heads, all other spears were abandoned in the Wasteland; at such a time, they were a burden to them. Fifty-some iron spears were enough to deal with emergencies on the road.

With the formation organized and everything ready, Baifeng issued the order to set off; with Xiong carrying four spears on his back and holding a bow in his hand to clear the path in front, Baifeng brought up the rear.

Just as the tribesmen climbed the hillside and were about to leave the valley, a "moo" sound from a cow attracted Baifeng.

Turning his head to look, on the black earth stood a solitary little white calf, which seemed to have been separated from the herd and did not know where to go.