Chapter 134: Yuan Ming's Moment of Triumph |
Seeing this scene, Liu San was so shocked he muttered to himself, "Oh my god, why has the master summoned so many refugees?"
Dazhuang was somewhat worried. He ran behind Liu San and asked quietly, "Third Master, is the master dissatisfied with how slow we're working and wants to replace us with a new batch?"
Liu San's expression turned severe, and he reprimanded in a low voice, "Don't talk nonsense! The master's business is not for us to question. If you do your job well, the master will naturally see it."
Dazhuang shrank his neck and hurried back to continue stirring the brine.
By the time this large pot of thin porridge was finished cooking and distributed, there were exactly thirty refugees standing before them.
These refugees whispered amongst themselves, and after receiving the thin porridge, they eagerly drank it down. Some even said it was hot but couldn't bear to spit it out.
"Drink slowly, don't burn your throats. I summoned you here to have you do work. Do it well, and the remaining half pot this evening will be yours too! And there will be meat added!" Qin Ziwen looked around at the refugees. "If you're unwilling to do it, you can leave now."
Someone cautiously asked, "Master, what do you need us to do?"
"Walk mountain paths, carry things. Counting the travel time, it's three hours of work."
Seeing their reaction, Qin Ziwen understood perfectly in his heart. Getting them to carry some things and make some noise was fine, but if he wanted to gather them to go to war or hunt beasts, it would probably be very difficult. If the enemy seemed even slightly fierce, they would likely just flee in panic.
"Follow me."
Qin Ziwen, along with Du Yu and the group of refugees, headed downstairs in a dark, dense mass.
Wang Xiaoli, who had just come upstairs, heard the footsteps from above and quickly stepped aside. Seeing Qin Ziwen standing at the front, she instinctively lowered her head.
Qin Ziwen passed by her, followed by the tall, powerfully masculine Du Yu.
Immediately after, a group of disheveled, disorderly men and women passed by from behind.
Where did these strangers come from?
Wang Xiaoli found it strange, and then, she seemed to think of something.
Could these all be people he summoned?!
She covered her mouth, her eyes filled with shock.
After exiting the building, Qin Ziwen led the large group out through the south gate.
Along the way, they were seen by some neighbors.
But Qin Ziwen and his group moved quickly, soon ascending the mountain path along the northern slope.
By evening, they finally arrived beside the Megatherium corpse.
As Qin Ziwen approached, Qin Ziwu and the others emerged from the nearby bushes.
"Big brother, you're finally back."
"What's wrong?" Qin Ziwen sensed the atmosphere was a bit off.
Qin Ziwu said, "About half an hour after you left, that Short-faced Bear came. We threw several Molotov cocktails to scare it off. Later, it tried to approach from another direction, but Brother Yang noticed and threw a Molotov cocktail right on the bear, which finally drove it away."
Du Yu asked, "Did the Short-faced Bear come back after that?"
Qin Ziwu replied, "No, probably got scared."
Du Yu pondered, "It's possible it was scared, but bears hold grudges. Once it recovers, it might very well come back. Don't let your guard down."
Du Yu looked back at the refugees. If the Short-faced Bear came again later and scared the refugees into running, it would be troublesome.
On the ground, the Megatherium corpse had already been cut into several large pieces.
"Brother, these are the arrows we shot into it before. Most of them are damaged." Qin Ziwu took out the carbon fiber arrows from behind him. Several arrowheads were bent, and even more had suffered lateral fractures.
"Hmm." Taking the broken arrows, although he had anticipated it, Qin Ziwen still felt a pang of heartache.
For now, carbon fiber arrows were basically non-renewable.
These arrows were light, had high tensile strength, long range, and great power.
But the downside was their weak resistance to lateral impact. They were prone to brittle fracture when hitting hard objects or bones. Simply put, they were glass cannons.
Everyone lit fires around the area, and under the cover of night, they began dissecting and dividing the ground sloth meat.
As time passed, the meat was gradually cut apart.
Through everyone's combined efforts, the massive prey was gradually broken down into smaller pieces of meat.
Then, everyone shouldered the meat, raised their torches, and walked through the mountain forest like a long, thin line of ants.
The group sang songs, hummed tunes, the torches blazing fiercely.
In the forest behind them, the Short-faced Bear stood up on its hind legs. Its massive body hid behind a tree, the fur on its chest and arms singed black and curled. In its pupils, the reflection of the torchlight flickered.
A low growl rumbled in its throat.
In the end, it still did not give chase.
Only after the humans had gone far away did it cautiously approach the Megatherium corpse, now reduced to a pile of scraps. It picked up the discarded offal and leftover bits and began to gnaw on them.
......
Ten o'clock at night.
Hu Huilan sat restlessly on the sofa. "It's so late already, and Xiaoming still isn't back."
Yuan Dajun took out his treasured cigarettes, sat on the sofa puffing clouds of smoke, his brow tightly furrowed.
"Don't just smoke, think of something!"
Yuan Dajun said, "I just went to Doctor Wang's house to ask. His wife said Wang Yun isn't back either. They're on the same team, so they're probably delayed by something."
Hu Huilan sat down, but her mind was still uneasy.
Knock, knock, knock.
A knocking sound came from the door.
Hu Huilan quickly got up to open it.
Seeing it was Zhang Liang outside, she hurriedly forced a smile. "Old Zhang, did you find out anything about Xiaoming's whereabouts?"
"Sister-in-law, don't worry." Zhang Liang comforted her. "They aren't part of our Alliance's Hunting Team, so it's hard for me to get much information right away. But they should be fine. After all, we've hunted in these surrounding areas so many times. There aren't any too dangerous beasts. They must be delayed by something."
Footsteps sounded from outside the door again.
The three people in the living room turned to look.
It was Zhang Liang's wife, Lin Xing, and Zhang Zihan.
Zhang Zihan said, "Dad, Uncle Yuan, I just went to ask around. No one saw Yuan Ming and the others. But someone said that Yuan Ming's captain led a group of people out this evening. I heard those people had messy hair and were dressed like beggars."
"Whew— Mom, come here quick and help me with this." Yuan Ming's panting voice came from outside the door.
Yuan Dajun let out a slight sigh of relief and stubbed out his cigarette.
Zhang Liang turned his head. "That's Xiaoming's voice."
Hu Huilan quickly stood up, the first to run out.
Outside the door, Yuan Ming was bent over, carrying two huge strips of meat on his left and right shoulders.
The long strips of meat hung over his shoulders on either side. He was beaming, the corners of his mouth turned up.
Seeing her son like this, Hu Huilan's nose tingled with emotion. "You rascal!"
She hurried forward to help take the strips of meat.
So heavy!
Zhang Liang, Yuan Dajun, Lin Xing, and Zhang Zihan got up and followed her out. Seeing such long, huge strips of meat, their eyes went wide.
"This..." Lin Xing was momentarily speechless. She looked at her husband. Her husband was a Hunting Team captain. Counting him, a small team had ten people. The meat they brought back each day, at most was six or seven jin, at least only one or two jin.
Since he took up this position, all the meat accumulated until now probably didn't even equal one of the strips Yuan Ming was carrying on his shoulder. One of these strips must be nearly a hundred jin, right?
And Hu Huilan was holding another one exactly like it!
......
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