Chapter 145: Chapter 144: Provoking Trouble, Prey Overload

The problem was that the one Lin Chen had shot was still near the herd. It must have forced itself to keep up with the group and had only just collapsed.

After sustaining a neck injury, it had struggled on for two days and a night. The behemoth had finally reached the end of its life.

"Put it out of its misery," Andre said calmly.

Lin Chen nodded, pulling the fletched arrow he had just retrieved from the snow out of his quiver.

The concept of animal welfare is quite prevalent in North America. Even when hunting, it must be done as humanely as possible, and any injured prey must be dispatched quickly.

The musk ox, targeted by their two beams of light, was clearly visible. A single Hat Lamp couldn’t illuminate that far, but with their two beams combined, the area was marginally brighter.

Lin Chen sidestepped a dozen or so paces, adjusting his position until he had a clear view of the musk ox’s abdomen. He aimed for a tiny spot just below its left ribs.

FWOOSH—

"Impressive!"

Andre exclaimed, starting to clap.

Hitting a stationary target was far easier than a moving one. Lin Chen’s arrow struck true, right near the fourth rib. Judging by its trajectory, it must have nicked the edge of the heart.

To even graze the heart from that distance was a sign of incredible archery. In his eyes, achieving that kind of accuracy would take at least six months to a year of practice—and that was practicing every single day.

With a more casual, on-and-off approach, it would take four or five years, if it was possible at all.

This wasn’t some high-tech bow, just a standard hunting bow. Aiming relied entirely on the naked eye and instinct.

Even he couldn’t say for certain that he could have done any better than Lin Chen.

But even after putting the musk ox out of its misery, they faced a new problem.

As long as the herd didn’t move on, there was no way for them to get near the carcass.

"Whatever, no point overthinking it. Let’s go get the one I killed first."

Andre went back to grab the sled, and the two of them approached the musk ox lying alone in the snow.

"Still a bit of warmth left. It must have died recently. We need to bleed it out before it freezes solid."

Lin Chen felt the carcass’s neck, then whipped out his combat knife. Without bothering to collect the blood, he sliced open its trachea in one motion.

Warm blood GUSHED from the incision. The snow on the ground melted instantly, quickly forming a sheet of frozen blood.

Musk oxen aren’t actually that large; they’re smaller than domesticated cattle like dairy cows. It’s just that most people never get the chance to butcher one themselves.

No, most people probably don’t even get the chance to watch it happen.

After it was bled, they worked together, quickly skinning the animal. Then they gutted it and butchered the carcass into smaller, manageable cuts.

The thick, metallic scent of blood drifted out, permeating the air above the forest.

The scent from over twenty kilograms of blood wasn’t going to dissipate anytime soon.

As a precaution, the two of them covered the patch of bloody snow with fresh powder, then started heading back, pulling the heavily laden sled.

"Good thing you had the foresight to bring this sled. Otherwise, there’d be no way we could haul this much meat back."

With Andre pulling the rope in front and Lin Chen pushing from behind, they could just barely get the sled moving with their combined strength.

Once they overcame the initial inertia, the sled picked up speed on the downhill slope. It slid faster and faster until it was practically careening down the mountainside.

Andre stood on the sled, holding a thick wooden pole. He occasionally jabbed it into the snow on either side to steer, perfectly avoiding every obstacle in his path before disappearing into the forest below, much to Lin Chen’s astonishment.

’Holy shit, the guy’s even a pro at sledding. He’s not human!’

By the time Lin Chen followed the tracks and caught up to Andre, he had already covered about three kilometers. They were now just over a kilometer from the shelter.

"You rode the sled the whole way?"

"Yep," Andre replied, lying on the ox hide and idly counting the stars. "Pushing it ourselves would be exhausting. Every bit of distance we can slide helps. I have to say, with this thing plus me, we’re at nearly five hundred kilograms. It’s one hell of a rush!"

"You’re not afraid you’ll crash and kill yourself?"

Lin Chen pursed his lips, speechless. He used to think the daredevil foreigners he saw in online videos were a minority. Now, it seemed they just hadn’t found the right environment to test their limits.

"Let’s not go back to the shelter. Straight to the warehouse. It shouldn’t be too far from here."

"The warehouse? Good idea!"

When the two of them emerged from the warehouse, drenched in sweat, the cold wind hit them, and they both shivered.

"Never thought I’d be sweating in temperatures this far below zero. If I remember right, tomorrow’s the routine physical check-up, isn’t it? Good timing, we have materials to exchange. Lin, have you decided what you want to trade for this time?"

"Sichuan peppercorns," Lin Chen blurted out.

"Sichuan peppercorns? What are those?"

"It’s a spice that looks a lot like a peppercorn, grown only in Great Xia. It’s also known as numbing pepper because its flavor is amazing—it makes your tongue and lips tingle and go numb, almost like a mild electric shock."

"It might feel strange at first, but once you get used to the sensation, you slowly get addicted to it."

"The numbing effect of Sichuan peppercorns is quite strong, though. There’s another kind called green Sichuan peppercorn, which is milder and has a fresher aroma. Both have their own ideal cooking methods and dishes."

"It makes your lips and tongue feel like they’re getting an electric shock?"

This bizarre quality immediately piqued Andre’s interest. He couldn’t for the life of him imagine how the sensation of an ’electric shock’ could be considered delicious.

It was still early. Though they didn’t know the exact time, they both estimated it was only around eight o’clock.

When they returned to the musk ox’s territory, they saw a dozen or so wolves with mottled black and grey fur gathered under the cold moonlight. They were clustered around the spot where they had butchered the ox, pawing at the ground.

A few yards ahead of the pack, several larger, more powerfully built black wolves were staring intently at the musk ox herd. The oxen had already formed a defensive circle, and the two groups were locked in a standoff.

"Now this is a problem."

Andre pulled Lin Chen down into a crouch, his expression souring.

"I didn’t think these Yukon Wolves would be bold enough to take on a musk ox herd."

Lin Chen said, "Is it possible the strong scent of blood made them think the musk oxen fought another predator of equal strength and lost? Maybe they came to see if they could scavenge the leftovers?"

"...Very likely!"

Lin Chen was right. After a brief standoff with the herd, the Yukon Wolves, despite noticing the dead musk ox on the ground, didn’t dare make a reckless move against the defensive formation.

"So what now? We just wait?"

"What else can we do?"

Andre shook his head. He clearly didn’t have a better idea.

"If I had a gun, we wouldn’t need to be hiding here. With my aim... heh, I’d just stand up and BANG, BANG, drop a couple of..."

CLICK.

The Hat Lamp switched on.

The sudden flash of light stung his eyes, making him squeeze them shut. A moment later, he heard the familiar, repeated thrum of a bowstring next to his ear.

"?????"

A series of question marks flooded Andre’s mind as he hurriedly opened his eyes and looked toward the beam of light.

He vaguely made out a figure falling, struck by an arrow.

Before he could react, Lin Chen drew his bow again and loosed a second arrow without hesitation.

"Holy shit, kids these days are really something else..."

Andre was dumbfounded, but seeing no other choice, he pulled an arrow from his own quiver and took aim at the largest wolves in the pack.

The sudden attack from their rear caught the wolf pack completely off guard. In the blink of an eye, three of them were down.

One of them, which seemed to be the alpha, reacted with incredible speed, but it still couldn’t evade Lin Chen’s swift arrow. Its hind leg was instantly crippled.

Just then, the musk ox herd noticed the disarray in the wolf pack. Several oxen on the perimeter of the defensive formation began pawing the ground. After shaking their horns, they lowered their heads and charged.

They ran with incredible speed, plowing through the snow like a fleet of armored cars and kicking up great clouds of powder and dirt.

"AWOOOO!!"

The injured alpha let out a guttural howl. The rest of the pack snapped their heads up, and a second later, they tucked their tails and scattered in all directions.

The musk oxen, having been harassed for two days straight, were not about to back down. They each singled out a target and gave chase. One of them charged directly at the injured alpha.

The alpha was clearly panicked. It scrambled on its three good legs, trying to get behind a tree to evade the enraged ox’s attack.

But an enraged musk ox charges at incredible speeds. Capable of hitting fifty kilometers per hour, they completely ignored their own safety. Their only strategy was to ram whatever was in front of them.

Right before their eyes, several Yukon Wolves were sent flying. Some were slammed violently into tree trunks, others were tossed high into the air. The unluckiest one was flung more than ten meters away.

Even then, the musk oxen showed no signs of giving up the hunt.

"Let’s go."

Andre flinched and backed away cautiously, pulling Lin Chen with him, afraid the kid might do something else reckless in the heat of the moment.

The two of them hid near the igloo for a long time, only daring to emerge after the wolf pack had completely scattered and the frenzied musk ox herd had returned to its original spot.

The chaotic, trampled snow was littered with several critically injured Yukon Wolves. They were drenched in blood, and the worst-off one lay there with its limbs twisted at unnatural angles, coughing up bloody foam.

"Good thing they weren’t interested in targets that were already down."

Lin Chen pulled his arrow from the head of the first wolf he’d shot, wiped it clean on the snow, and returned it to his quiver. Then he started searching for the alpha.

A few minutes later, he found the unlucky creature at the base of a tree.

Its throat had been pierced straight through by a sharp horn, which had even gouged a deep groove into the tree trunk behind it.

The fletched arrow in its hind leg had snapped in two, leaving only the arrowhead embedded in the muscle.

"My arrow!"

Lin Chen winced as he cut open the wound to retrieve the arrowhead.

’If I can get this arrowhead off, fashion a new shaft, and reattach the fletching, I wonder if it’ll still be usable.’

No use thinking about that now. He stuffed the two pieces of the broken arrow into his quiver.

"Lin!"

Andre suddenly called out.

"Hurry over! The musk ox herd is gone! We can finally get this other one!"

Whether it was because of the great battle, the loss of two of their own, or simply because the stench of blood was too overwhelming, it was hard to say.

In any case, the herd of several dozen musk oxen was gone for good. Andre had even followed their tracks for two or three hundred meters to confirm.

"It’s probably a short-distance migration. They’re moving to a safer location."

It had to be said that Lin Chen’s risky gamble to attack the wolves had worked, but it had nearly dragged them down with the ship.

If Andre hadn’t reacted so quickly and pulled him away, the two of them would have likely been targeted by the frenzied musk oxen as well.

"Looks like we’ll have to make a third trip."

Lin Chen let out a wry smile as he looked at the wolves scattered across the ground, still twitching.

"Let’s get started," Andre said. "First, we’ll finish processing this big fella, then we’ll deal with these wolves. Wolves almost never cannibalize, so it should be safe to work here."

They exchanged a look, each seeing the same weary resignation in the other’s eyes.

They’d never imagined they’d one day be run off their feet by having too much game. All told, processing and hauling everything in three trips would take at least twelve hours. It was questionable whether they’d even make it to the routine physical check-up tomorrow.

Just as they finished butchering the musk ox and were dragging the dead wolves over, a shimmering green light suddenly flashed across the snow.

The light was dreamlike and ethereal. Reflected by the white snow, it instantly suffused the surroundings with a hazy, mystical glow, like something out of an Elf Forest.