CH 53

Luckily, Eim remembered about the pits he previously dug.

With a string of Utah Raptors hot on his heels, Eim sprinted towards the place containing the pits!

The Utah Raptors followed him unsuspectingly–

Er–

The frontmost raptor was the first to fall into the trap!

Its feet landed on empty ground, and fell heavily into the first hole. The hole Eim dug was just big enough to accommodate its body, and its weak forelimbs did nothing to aid its escape.

The trapped raptor tried jumping out of the pit by kicking its leg against the ground, but its actions were futile as the trap was too deep.

The other two raptors also fell into adjacent traps. 

Only the last raptor, who was all the way behind, did not dare to continue chasing Eim after seeing the turn of events. It howled a couple times at its companions stuck in the trap, before escaping.

Eim, who survived this ordeal, gasped for breath.

After a while, his breathing went back to normal. He looked up to the distance, something fluffy on his back. Eim turned around to see his Dad and Brother.

“I’m fine.” He gently stroked them.

“Let’s take a look at our catch…” Not forgetting about the prey they hunted, Eim carefully approached one of the traps. 

The large figure trapped inside noticed Eim getting close, and immediately let out a low, angry roar!

A mouthful of teeth met Eim’s face.

“!” His legs softened, and body fell back. He couldn’t help sitting at the edge of the trap.

“How scary…” Heart beating wildly, Eim shook away the goosebumps that appeared all over him. 

He could feel his body still trembling. Not because of his desperate running for life, but because of faint excitement.

“We actually managed to catch such big prey!” Eim excitedly said, “And there are even three–”

“What Black said was indeed true, these guys aren’t hard to catch at all~” The successful hunt gave him lots of confidence.

After confirming the adequate depth of the trap, and that these prey wouldn’t be able to jump out easily, Eim made a realisation: “Eh? Where’s Black and White?”

If they weren’t around, he could only rely on himself. How could he bring those prey out from the traps! 

He was just cheering for his abundant harvest, but now he was dejected by the same abundance.

At this moment, he spotted the couple walking towards him from not far away.

Under the dim light, they looked like 2 black spots, with a larger black spot trailing behind them.

Eim hurriedly waved his hand and ran over.

“We only caught one…” Pointing to the prey Black was dragging behind him, White sounded a little frustrated.

“It’s alright~” Eim’s mouth curved into a smile. As if telling him a secret, he secretly gestured to his back, “That… I caught three!”

Eim proudly showed them the Utah Raptors who were still caught in the traps. Looking at their unfortunate figures stuck in the trap without any room for movement… Black and White suddenly saw Eim as someone much larger and stronger.

The two of them only managed to nab one, while Eim actually caught three. Amazing!

Since they already “bought” some meat, it’s time to “buy” some vegetables~

Since White was responsible for watching over the prey, Black and Eim went nearby to harvest some fruits. 

When everything was gathered, everyone was hungry, so they immediately grilled two Utah Raptors to eat.

Eim’s roasting skill was amazing! The berries and liquid from the Crunchy Grass was smeared all over the meat, then it was grilled on both sides. 

Without any salt or cumin powder, Eim actually managed to grill the Utah Raptor meat to be like the lamb skewers Meng Jiuzhao had in his previous life!

“What exactly did this guy eat, for his meat to be so hard!” While exerting strength to chew on the Utah Raptor meat, Eim complained.

“Thank goodness I’ve handled such meat before. If it was anyone else, that meat would probably be brick hard!”

Meng Jiuzhao repeatedly nodded his head, His little mouth quickly chewing on the meat Black stuffed him with. He felt more and more that the chef of the Vash tribe should be switched.

However, for a rabbit to be so skilled at barbeque… It sounded quite strange.

Seeing how Meng Jiuzhao and Louis were gobbling their food, Eim passed over more grilled meat, speaking like a rich man, “Eat more if you like it, I’ll catch more raptors for you to eat! Catch more! Until it’s enough to fill our stomachs!”

Meng Jiuzhao thought, Eim looked really cool and overbearing when he said those words.

Anyways, let him continue being this happy.

They caught a total of 4 raptors. After eating 2, the remaining 2 were dragged out of the trap by Black and White, and beheaded. While eating, they had already discussed it with Eim. The uneaten raptors would be brought back to the tribe for everyone.

The sky was getting brighter. They took the chance while it was still dark to sneak out, so they had to quickly return.

After eating and drinking his fill, as well as harvesting enough Crunchy Grass for Dad and Brother, Eim’s bravery from just now vanished.

Only now did he remember Sita’s story about the monsters, and walked back with tensed nerves. Only until he saw the cluster of nests at the tribe did he calm down.

After placing the two dead raptors into Carat’s kitchen, they returned to their respective nests. Lighting a fire, the two families had a good sleep.

No one realized that these two families disappeared for an entire night.

The next day, Black and White were once again assigned to the foraging group to pick every edible plant and fruit around the tribe.

But this place was originally cold and barren. After continuously harvesting from the same location for multiple days, there were fewer and fewer plants to pick.

Black and White who just had their fill last night didn’t feel much about it. After a Kantas ingests food, it takes very long for the food to digest. The food they obtained could provide them with a couple days’ worth of energy.

But Sita and the others were worried.

When the hunting group came back to the tribe, this worry worsened.

The hunting group only managed to bring back a Snow Dolphin.

“We didn’t manage to run into any animals today, so we risked it a little and went to the frozen river. Salle managed to catch this in the water.” Andy frowned, covering his abdomen secretly. When he went underwater just now, his stomach started feeling uncomfortable for some reason.

“Roar!” Salle made a low roar.

“Salle is saying that the Snow Dolphin will be left for the cubs, and the rest of us should eat fruits!” Fendi translated the chief’s words.

“But… We didn’t manage to harvest many fruits today…” Sita spoke with difficulty.

Salle was silent.

Just as they were thinking of countermeasures, the familiar smell of cooking wafted from a distance–

“Carat! Check the pot! Something is burning again…” Sita reflexively yelled at Carat, only to realise after yelling: Carat’s kitchen is already empty, and the only food is in front of her, so what exactly is he cooking?!

Has Carat’s cooking skill evolved to the point that he could even burn boiling water?

Despairing, Sita looked in Carat’s direction, only to find that there– at the dining area of the tribe, were a couple of large pots set up.

This sight could only be seen when the captured prey was abundant, and it was gone for a long time. The prey they obtained had been steadily decreasing over the past few days, as was not even enough to fill a pot, so what exactly was happening here?

The wolf race female, Xiao Ding, ran over, laughing as she said, “Why are you guys just standing here? It’s time to eat.”

“Ah?” Sita was stunned. But everyone around her was busying about, so she could only follow along with a confused face.

Carat had probably taken out all the pots in his possession. A total of 7 big pots were bubbling, and the heat from the pots had melted the snow on the surrounding ground.

But the thought of being able to eat a full meal put everyone in a good mood, and everyone waited in anticipation for Carat to serve up the food.

“Alright, it’s time to eat.” Carat tasted a mouthful of soup, visionless eyes gazing into nothingness as he announced the beginning of the meal.

The moment his words dropped, everyone went up, splitting up to different pots. Brandishing their weapons [1] everyone spiritedly[2] scooped out pieces of meat!

“Ah!” Although perplexed about the situation, meat was still meat, and whoever refused it was a fool. Although Fendi was the last to arrive, he was one of the first to scoop out the meat from the pot. He quickly grabbed a rib and happily chomped down, and then–

“My teeth–” Holding his cheeks, Fendi cried out. 

But even so, he did not give up eating the meat in his mouth. With one paw clutching his cheek, and the other hand holding the bone that nearly fell out of his mouth, he slowly and patiently gnawed on the bone while frowning.

Heavens knew how many days he had spent eating just grass. If this carried on, he felt like he would become a reindeer!

“Where did this reserve food of Carat’s come from? It’s really hard! With this hardness, it’s as if he didn’t defrost it…”

Sita also grabbed a piece of meat. She even carefully left some for Black, White and Eim. When everyone was fighting over the meat, she noticed them standing at one side, But that made sense, with their small size, even when combined, they couldn’t snatch food from anyone!

“Black, come, come and eat!” She enthusiastically waved for them to come, giving them some meat from the creature Salle caught.

Salle looked at the meat Sita placed before him for a long time, before finally taking a testing bite.

Just like Fendi had said, this piece of meat was really tough. As a hunter with many years of experience, Salle had eaten nearly every species’ meat before, yet the texture of this meat… Was extremely new.

But having something to eat was good enough. Seeing that Fendi was not full but didn’t want to go get more meat, he silently passed his unfinished portion to Fendi, before picking up the Snow Dolphin he caught to give to Sita.

“Roar!” This is for the cubs.

“Got it!” After receiving the Snow Dolphin, Sita watched Salle’s retreating figure. He didn’t walk too far, only to the edge of the tribe’s houses, before quietly laying down, taking on the duty of a guard.

Sita didn’t finish her portion either, and threw the remaining portion of precious meat to her brother, Hol. She noticed a few cubs unable to chew through the meat, so with the Snow Dolphin thrown over her shoulders, she picked up an empty pot. She decided to cook something tasty for the cubs.

She walked to an area not too far away. She first had to pour out the remaining water in the pot, before boiling a new batch of water to cook the Snow Dolphin.

She hummed a tune, eyes carelessly on the pot. As the water in the pot lessened, the remains at the bottom of the pot were exposed.

“AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!” Everything at the bottom of the pot was fully displayed in front of Sita. Her humming stopped abruptly, and she let out a blood-curdling scream!

Translator has something to say:

Hm… Happy Lunar New Year?